Mitrovic comes to Fulham’s rescue against Derby

The Championship’s top goalscorer, Aleksandar Mitrovic, has again come to the rescue of the Cottagers by rescuing a point for the London club at Derby.

Wayne Rooney had in the game marked his 500th appearance in English league put Derby ahead through a Panenka penalty.

Mitrovic restored parity 19 minutes to the end of regulation time after volleying in Aboubakar Kamara’s cross for his 22nd goal of the season.

It was looking like Rooney’s spot-kick would be the winner, and the former Manchester United striker would have taken the headlines when he calmly clipped the ball past Marek Rodak from the spot for the Rams after Tim Ream had handled the ball in the box 18.

With the game producing several chances at both ends, neither side could find a winner, with Rodak keeping Fulham in the game with a number of fine saves.

With this type of performance, Rodak, who had an absolute nightmare in the home loss against Barnsley, has responded in a positive fashion denying Tom Lawrence, Matt Clarke, and Curtis Davies in the closing stages.

Although The Whites dominated possession, they failed to threaten as much as the hosts. Although both sides wanted three points to keep the pressure on the top two, they ended sharing the spoils.

Speaking to Sky Sport, after the game, the Slovakian shot-stopper described it as a good game that produced what he called a fair result as both teams wanted the maximum points.

Speaking on his performance last week, Rodak, who admitted conceding goals he could have saved, said he was disappointed the team lost but happy that they showed character against Derby.

Rooney told Sky Sports that it was a great game that produced chances from both ends, adding that a draw is probably a fair result.

While noting that he had never played a Panenka penalty before, Rooney confessed that he is always nervous before penalties but tried something different, and it went in.

The draw has lifted Fulham within two points of second-placed Leeds as they are still in the race for promotion to the English Premier League.

With the 1-1, draw Derby’s hopes of getting into the play-off zone is looking slim as they are eight points adrift of the top six, having played a game more than all the teams around them.

 

 

Written by: Oladipupo Mojeed